Electrophysiology catheters are commonly used for mapping electrical activity in a heart. Electrophysiology is a specialty within the field of cardiology for diagnosis and treatment of electrical abnormalities of the heart. By mapping the electrical activity in the heart, ectopic sites of electrical activation or other electrical activation pathways that contribute to heart malfunctions may be detected. This type of information may then allow a cardiologist to intervene and destroy the malfunctioning heart tissues. Such destruction of heart tissue is referred to as ablation, which is a rapidly growing field within electrophysiology and obviates the need for maximally invasive open heart surgery.
Attached to the electrophysiology catheters are electrodes, which are used to map, or collect electrical information about, the electrical activity in the heart. Such catheters are generally inserted percutaneously and fed through one or more major blood vessels into a chamber of the heart. It is desirable to include a mapping assembly on the catheter comprising a plurality of electrodes that can be used to simultaneously map electrical activity at different positions within the heart.